Argument from the efficacy of prayer

"Now, you come along, and pray for something. Well suppose the thing you want isn't in God's Divine Plan? What do you want Him to do? Change His plan? Just for you? Doesn't it seem a little arrogant? It's a Divine Plan. What's the use of being God if every run-down shmuck with a two-dollar prayerbook can come along and fuck up Your Plan?"

Prayer in the New Testament is also presented as being completely dependable. For example:

Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"

Matthew 17:20 "For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."

Matthew 21:21 "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

John 14:12-14 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it."

Matthew 18:19 "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Thus, the stipulations one must fulfill for having their prayers answered are these:

Have faith. It doesn't matter how much, for even someone with the faith of a mustard seed will have their prayers answered.

Don't doubt in your faith.

Believe in Jesus and the works that he does.

Believe that you will receive what you pray for.

If you really want your prayer answered, get a group of people to all pray for the same thing.

The Bible says that if you adhere to these rules then this is what God will do for you:

He will answer your prayers, no matter what you ask for.

Nothing will be impossible for you if you pray about it.

Objections to Prayer

As the George Carlin quote suggests, the act of prayer seems a little odd for people with belief in a god who is supposed to be omniscient and omnibenevolent. Clearly an omniscient god would already be aware of your problems and know what you want. Ultimately, your request may be regarded by God as either good or evil. If it is good, then why would God not have granted your wishes already? If it is evil, then why would God ever grant your request?

Billions of people pray for various things every day. Many of the prayer requests are even contradictory. For instance, in a football game, often the players and fans on both sides are praying to win. If God answers prayers, which side should He choose? The side that prays loudest?

Christians often state that God can answer prayers in one of three ways; "yes", "no", or "wait". This makes God no different from random chance. After all, when you pray it can either happen (i.e. God answers "yes"), not happen (God answers "no), or you have to wait to see if it will happen (God answers "wait").

As the famous question goes, "Why won't God heal amputees?" Prayers for things like cancer that naturally go into remission on their own are answered all the time, yet miracles that could never be misconstrued for random chance like the regrowth of a lost limb are never answered.

Some people say that it isn't God's will to perform unambiguous miracles through prayer. However, if it's all just God's will then why pray? God will just do what he wants to whether you pray about it or not.

Christians might also say that God doesn't want to provide unambiguous proof of his own existance since this would deny faith. However, this rationalization ignores the myriad of times in the Bible that he does just that.

Another common rationalization is that God uses unanswered prayers to demonstrate his power through the suffering person's life. For example, a patient with terminal cancer whose faith is deepened because of their ordeal. This begs the question, however, of why an all-knowing and all-loving God couldn't think of a less painful way to accomplish that particular goal. It also begs the question of why a person who already had faith has to endure more pain to have it "deepened".

A less common rationalization is that a person who gets their leg shot off in a way chose to be on that battlefield of their own free will and, thus, God has no obligation to heal them. However, this ignores the millions born with missing limbs that were never healed. It's not that God ignores some amputees, it's that he ignores all amputees.

Some might say that God does heal amputees by divinely inspiring doctors and scientists to cure them. This, however, is easily refuted by Occam's Razor. God's inspiration isn't necessary for doctors and scientists to find ways to cure amputees. And why did God feel the need to bypass this kind of helpful inspiration for thousands of years and reduce the suffering only in the modern age?

Others say that God can't be tested since he's so much higher than us. This ignores the story of Gideon in the Old Testament and Thomas in the New Testament who both did exactly that and who recieved the proof that each had asked for.

Some Christians say that Jesus never specified when he would answer prayers and that maybe he will answer them in the afterlife. This is unfair since God apparently answers so many other prayers during the believers' lifetimes. Also, the verses quoted above are unambiguous in the fact that they state that whatever you ask for you'll get during your life.

Some might bring up the objection that these verses aren't to be taken literally. Firstly, the verses themselves are certainly written like they should be taken literally. Secondly, if this objection is used the believer must provide an objective reason why these verses are non-literal. If no reason can be provided then the verses should continue to be taken literally.

Of course, the fact that Matthew 21:21 says that you must have faith and not doubt for your prayers to be answered gives apologists a convenient loophole. If you pray and you satisfy every single stipulation and yet your prayer is never answered they can just say "Well, you didn't believe enough" or "you doubted your faith". Of course, these responses are both absurd since millions of Christians who did believe strongly enough and who didn't doubt have failed to have their prayers answered. It's extraordinarily unlikely that every single one of the billions and billions of people who have prayed throughout history and who have failed to have those prayers answered doubted or lacked enough faith.

Finally, when all else fails a Christian might say "People have believed in Jesus for 2,000 years. There must be a good reason for it." This is a non-sequitir because it ignores the political and cultural forces that shape all societies and modes of belief throughout time and instead focuses on its own supposed inherent goodness. It also fails to account for all of the other competing beliefs that survived with it for equally long or longer periods of time like Islam and Judaism. Strangely, you don't hear Christians arguing that there must be good reasons for those religions' survival too!